Personal lubrications for intimate contact are well known. Typically, personal lubricants are marketed as liquids, jellies, gels or suppositories. Examples of such products include K-Y® Jelly, Astroglide®, K-Y® Liquid, K-Y® Ultragel™. More recently K-Y® Warming Liquid was introduced to the marketplace. K-Y® Warming Liquid is a water soluble, anhydrous composition that warms on contact while providing lubrication.
Most of the commercially available personal lubricant products are used by first applying to the hand or fingers of the user and then to the intimate area. This can be undesirable and messy. Additionally, some individuals are adverse to applying a personal lubricant directly to the genital regions.
One method to deliver a liquid hands-free is through spraying. Spraying a composition can be accomplished in one or more ways. For example, there exist two products from Durex sold in a spray pump dispenser. When dispensed, the products, Play Warmer Lubricant and Play Tingling Lubricant, come out of the nozzle in a viscous stream or single line, the direction of which is controlled by gravitational force. The stream of lubricant does not extend beyond a short distance, making it difficult to dispense to a specific target area. Additionally, the stream that is sprayed out is not atomized and does not result in a relatively uniform layer of lubricant over a target area. Furthermore, the pumping mechanism does not change the properties of the composition when dispensed.
There are also commercially available oils, lubricants and food products that reside in spray containers that utilize atomization. For example, WD-40®, a household lubricant containing petroleum distillates (commercially available from the WD-40 Company of California), is an aerosol containing carbon dioxide propellant that can be sprayed in a wide spray pattern. This product also has a straw-type attachment, which allows it to be delivered to a specific site.
Another spray pump dispensing device that is capable of atomizing a composition contains a swirl chamber that breaks up the composition into minute particles or into a fine spray, which is then expelled. Examples of products that may be atomized are olive oil sprays, artificial oleo spreads, hair care products, mechanical lock lubricants, sun care skin products and massage oils. Other products which require both sprayability and lubricity may be conveniently made in accordance with the compositions and methods of this invention, for example, hair sprays or skin moisturizers.
However, not all liquids are capable of being sprayed. This has been a particular challenge in the area of personal lubricants. Typically, personal lubricants have a high viscosity, resulting in a much thicker solution than is generally thought of as being capable of being sprayed. Additionally, some personal lubricants are not liquids but are gels and jellies.
Lowering the viscosity of such personal lubricant compositions by diluting the composition with liquid, however, generally causes the composition to lose lubricity.
Therefore, there exists a need for a sprayable composition for personal lubrication use that results in a controlled delivery to a defined target area.